Ondertrouwaankondiging aan Philip Zilcken before 1918

This “Ondertrouwaankondiging aan Philip Zilcken” was printed by an anonymous artist, likely in 1918. The cool thing about printmaking is how it multiplies, how it makes an image exist in multiple places simultaneously, and how it documents something, like this marriage announcement. Here, the lines of text are crisp and clear, almost like a set of instructions or rules being laid down. But, within that, we get this glimpse of human emotion and sentiment. Look at the poem, “Epithalamium,” which, according to the all-knowing internet, is a song or poem celebrating a marriage. The artist carefully chose specific words to emphasize the hope for the marriage, but also the somewhat mournful and melancholic idea that the world will always contain sorrows, even during times of joy. This reminds me a bit of the work of someone like Sister Corita Kent. There is something both so hopeful and, at the same time, so aware of sadness. It’s like art is always having a conversation with itself, and with us.